Stop blaming police, NURTW scribe replies NLC over union’s crisis

The National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) led by Tajudeen Agbede has asked the Nigeria Labour Congress to stop blackmailing the police for detaining the former president of the union, Alhaji Tajudeen Baruwa.

It said on Saturday that the NLC’s indolence and lack of concern at the initial stage of the problem allowed the crisis to linger.

Acting General Secretary of the NURTW, Comrade Kayode Agbeyangi, stated this while reacting to a statement on Friday credited to the NLC in which the Congress blamed the police for the recent bloody clash in Abuja involving members of the union that led to the loss of a life.

The NLC condemned the police for arresting and detaining the former president of the union, Tajudeen Baruwa, whom the police accused of culpable homicide.

But reacting to the NLC outbursts on Saturday, Comrade Agbeyangi expressed disappointment with the leadership of NLC for coming out with such a statement.

He said the failure of leadership of the NLC to tackle the problems at the initial stage was responsible for the union’s internal crisis.

Part of the NURTW statement read, “This problem started about two years ago, the aggrieved members wrote series of letters to the NLC to intervene, but they were ignored.

“Some of these aggrieved members were expelled by Baruwa administration. Our people complained to the NLC, but nothing was done.

“When the aggrieved could not get attention of the NLC, they went to court to seek justice. Members from South-West approached the court to determine Baruwa’s eligibility for a second term in office.

“The court adjourned hearing on the matter till October with an order that all the parties in the case should maintain status quo. But Baruwa ignored the order and started organising kangaroo delegate conference.

“We brought all these illegalities to the attention of the NLC, but they turned deaf ear to the matter.”

Agbeyangi said the NLC was supporting Baruwa despite the fact that all his actions negated trade union standards

He said, “I want to challenge the NLC to tell the whole world which body supervised the Baruwa’s so-called delegate conference? Were journalists (print and electronic) invited to cover the event? Is it proper to hold such event at dead of the night?”

On the recent arrest and detention of Baruwa, Agbeyangi commended the police for doing a good job.

“It is unfortunate that the NLC has taken their support for Baruwa to another level that has blindfolded their sense of justice and fairness.

“They succeeded in ensuring that police vacated the union’s environment last week. Baruwa came out to inform the whole world that he would shell blood.

“And true to his threat, some hired thugs bombarded our secretariat and in the process a member was killed and some were wounded. And the police after investigation invited some people and those suspected to be involved in the violence were detained with the possibility of charging them to court. Unfortunately, the NLC is condemning the police for doing their jobs. The questions is: Does NLC expect the police to fold their arms and watch hoodlums take over the space?”

The NURTW scribe explained that the majority of union members aligned with the current leadership of the union under Alhaji Agbede.

“I want to inform the NLC that our people in the NURTW have moved past the Baruwa issue. What we doing now is how to organize a proper delegate conference that even the NLC will be proud of, not a kangaroo one organised in the dead of he night,” he stated.